A Plea from the Heart
As a lover of our glorious traditional music and a supporter of Comhaltas since the first concert which was in Hunter College New York City, 1951, and also a contributor to Treoir from its start, it makes me sad to have to write this letter to express my feelings on the way our glorious traditional music is being crucified on the altar of speed (fast tempo). It hurts more when it is allowed or permitted by an organisation that is dedicated to the fostering of our native culture in which traditional music has a bit part. I must say that Comhaltas is doing a good job when it comes to the promoting part but you as the officers of Comhaltas have a responsibility to present it in a traditional manner. It is the best folk music in the world bar none. It speaks a language that only we Irish can understand. It is embedded in our hearts and minds. It is imbued with spirit, expression and pathos and when played without those qualities it is empty. These qualities cannot be expressed when it is played at a fast tempo, then it becomes a slur.
New York 1930
When I landed in NYC in 1930 it was full of Connacht traditional musicians: Sligo fiddlers and flute players, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon fiddlers and flute players, uilleann pipers. Some you have extolled in Treoir for their talents and rightfully so. They were men of the soiI of Ireland reared and nurtured in their native culture. They were imbued with a strong, passionate love for their native traditional music. Their playing spoke a language that was deeply embedded in their hearts and minds. They played it with a spirit of expression and pathos, especially reels. If they were alive today and heard the way their native music is played, ‘Crucified on the altar of fast tempo’. They would have a dysentery hemorrhage. I pray that the light of heaven is shining on their souls.Very little of their talent rubbed off on me but that is a mute point for some times it takes a duffer like me to alert people like you, the officers of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann who, in your zeal to do a good job in promoting our native culture, fail to see the rocks in the road ahead. As I said, you have done a good job promoting, now you have to preserve the fruit of your labour; you have to rein in the runaway fast tempo so that our glorious traditional music will be presented in character with our native culture. If you fail to do so, you will have dropped the ball and that would be very sad.
Competitions
You may say that Comhaltas cannot control (stop) people from playing whatever way they want. That is true to a point. But when they play in a musical competition presented or conducted by Comhaltas you, the officers of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann , have an obligation to see that our glorious traditional music is played in a traditional manner. I am not interested in other nationalities playing our traditional music, but I am concerned that the younger generation of Irish men and women play it at a tempo that will make it loved by other nationalities, with pride, love and expression. It is the finest folk music in the world bar none. You may say I use strong language therefore my comments cannot be printed in Treoir. That is OK, I am not looking for publicity. But, I would like an answer from an officer of Comhaltas, not a form letter commenting on my concerned thoughts on our glorious traditional music and culture. A letter from one Irish man to another, a folksy letter. I have noticed others have commented on this subject in Treoir. I don’t have the musical knowledge of P J Kilroy or do I totally agree with Peter McAuley that the fast pace of life today is the problem. Maybe he is on the right track, for those who play traditional Irish music here at the present time who are in the entertainment field have gone off the deep end with fast tempo.
